WHEATON, ILL.—The Carthage College softball team were in pursuit of their first CCIW victory of the season heading into their doubleheader at #24 Wheaton College on Wednesday afternoon. The Thunder are coming off an 8-1 loss to Elmhurst College on April 11, which snapped their seven-game win streak.
 
The Thunder's loss on Monday didn't stop them from receiving 21 points on the NFCA Coaches' Poll, which was released today. As for the Lady Reds, junior pitcher Katie Herron has been a force to be reckon with in her past two starts. The Brooklyn Park, Minn. native has struck out 20 batters in her previous two starts prior to this afternoon.
 
Wednesday afternoon proved to be the same as she tallied 11 strikeouts to propel the Lady Reds to a 2-1 victory over the Thunder in game one. The Thunder responded with a 15-3 (5 Innings) victory in game two.
 
Carthage sits at 8-10, 1-3 CCIW while Wheaton clocks in at 20-6, 6-2 CCIW.
 
Lady Reds 2, Wheaton 1
 
Herron struck out the side in the opening inning, and rung up two batters in the second inning to keep the game tied 0-0. Herron's no-hit bid came to a close in the third inning when Megan Neuhaus blooped an infield pop fly to no man's land.
 
The Thunder struck first when Kelly Thornton hit a lead-off home run in the fourth inning to make the score 1-0.
 
The Lady Reds responded in the fifth inning after Hailey Rothstein was hit by a pitch. Jennifer Michuda pinch ran for Rothstein and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. This set up Abby Thompson's RBI-double to right field to tie the game 1-1.
 
Rothstein, Darian Pelsor and Makenzie Walker each reached base in the top of the seventh inning. After Thompson reached on a fielder's choice, Vivian Juarez walked in Pelsor with the bases loaded to give the Lady Reds a 2-1 lead.
 
Pelsor and Thompson collected the only Lady Red hits in the game. Herron surrendered two hits and no walks in the complete game effort.
 
Wheaton 15, Lady Reds 3 (5 Innings)
 
The Thunder touched the Lady Reds for a pair of runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Katie Thornton, Ellen Randandt and Neuhaus led off the third inning with back-to-back-to-back singles, which loaded the bases. This set up Julia Arthur's two-run single that scored Thornton and Randandt to widen the Thunder lead to 4-0.
 
Hannah Clark laid down a bunt-single to load the bases again for the Thunder. This paid off when Alyssa Leonared laced a double to center field to score Clark, Arthur and Neuhaus to make the score 7-0.
 
The Lady Reds scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the third inning. Kayla Uhwat-Vicicondi and Juarez reached base on a walk and single respectively, and advanced to second and third on Sam McCloud's groundout.
 
Shannon Walsh knocked in Uhwat-Vicicondi on a ground-ball single to left field to narrow the Thunder lead to 7-1. Hailey Rothstein followed that with a two-run single to score Walsh and Uhwat-Vicicondi to make the score 7-3.
 
The Thunder widened their lead to 9-3 in the fourth inning with a Thornton home run, and a Clark RBI-double that scored Neuhaus. A big six-run fifth inning put the nail in the Lady Red's coffin and secured a 15-3 victory for Wheaton College.
 
Juarez, Rothstein, Kristine Herdegen and Walsh each registered one hit for Carthage in game two.
 
The Lady Reds will return to the Carthage Softball Field tomorrow, April 14 against Carroll University. The doubleheader is slated to start at 3:00 p.m.